A Surprise Proposal

It was the fall of 1995 and my then boyfriend dropped me off (at the gate) for a three week trip to Mexico. While at the gate waiting to board I was preoccupied with thoughts of living and traveling through Mexico for three weeks with professors and other students who were complete strangers, and my boyfriend was preoccupied with readying himself for the CPA exam. We said a hurried goodbye, and with so much on each of our minds I’m not sure we even shared the “I love you” that normally accompanied our greetings over our year of dating.

Fast forward three weeks, keeping in mind the internet and cell phones weren’t options to keep in touch, I was only able to make two short collect calls to check in. As I made my way up the ramp and out of our arrival gate I saw him standing there with a single red rose. I hugged him and then turned to find a classmate I had traveled with to make introductions. When I turned back toward him he wasn’t there. Then I realized he was on one knee, ring box in hand asking me to marry him. The entire airport faded away and I could only see this man I loved on one knee. Twenty-two years, three kids and a dog later we started with an engagement story that can no longer be duplicated but began the story of us. Since that time we’ve made countless trips through the SL airport reaching destinations across globe for pleasure filled vacations and business trips alike. The airport has always been a magical place that could whisk me away changing climates and scenery in a matter of hours but no single trip was more magical than the one that brought me back home to the Salt Lake Airport and unknowingly into the arms of my soon to be fiancé. Sunni W.